What's Your Method for Teaching Writing Skills? Part I

When we decided to homeschool our children, we did not buy a writing curriculum. As a fifth-grade teacher with six years experience, I knew how to create a writing curriculum. Most of the homeschool writing programs I saw were like the writing curriculum in the public school system. These programs taught students what to write, not how to write.

I was firmly convinced that this was the best approach to teaching writing, at least until I discovered the Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW). Its founder, Andrew Pudewa, has created a fascinating product called Teaching Writing: Structure and Style. His program does not focus on helping students develop ideas to write about. Instead, he focuses on teaching students how to write. This seemed contrary to all my training - my students, like all others, were most concerned about finding a topic to write about.

Andrew Pudewa's approach to writing is completely different. Rather than have students decide on the topic, he tells them what to write about. Using his lesson plans for writing process, students learn a variety of "structures". These structures consist of outlines for various types of writings - essays, letters, and more. Students choose an appropriate outline depending on what kind of writing they are doing and the reasons for writing.

Teaching Writing goes beyond structure, teaching students how to develop their writing "style"; thus, the program name Teaching Writing: Structure and Style. Mr. Pudewa teaches students how to develop and vary their writing style. Students use strong action words and effective adjectives to create powerful sentences. Once students learn how to dress up their sentences, they learn various methods to open their sentences.

In part two of this series, I will show you a simple activity to do with your children. This activity can be done anytime - during the school year or over summer vacation. If you have a budding writer or an older student who is struggling to learn how to write, you won't want to miss the second installment of teaching writing skills.

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© Kerry Beck, 2008
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Kerry Beck helps teachers and homeschool moms about lesson plans for writing process. She has a free mini-course to show you how to teach writing at Teaching Writing.